


What Doesn’t Kill Us…

by E_J_Morgan



Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-03
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:41:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25054045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/E_J_Morgan/pseuds/E_J_Morgan
Summary: Trip and T'Pol really started off on the wrong foot: with Trip hating Vulcans and T'Pol expecting someone more mature for chief engineer of a starship, they constantly argue and can never seem to agree on anything. So, if the two of them are kidnapped and don't have anyone else to rely on but each other, can they work together to get out alive?Set in early season 1.
Relationships: Friendship - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1.**

For many-many years, mankind had been unable to solve the Fermi paradox: why is there no evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations when it’s so highly probable they must exist!? Using the so-called Drake equation, 20th century people had determined there was a good chance to detect radio-communication from intelligent extraterrestrial life, based on the sheer number of stars with planets that might be able to support life at one point or another; life, that’s capable of communication and also willing to get to know others in the Galaxy. Still, for a very long time, nothing had happened, so that in the end, humans had stopped being contented with sending radio signals out into the Space and sitting on their hands, just passively waiting for an answer that would most likely never come – they had wanted more. They had wanted to _go out there_ and look for themselves. So, when on April 5, 2063, Zefram Cochrane made Earth's first warp flight, the historical big step had finally been made. And also the last for a few decades, many thanks to the Vulcan survey ship called T'Plana Hath that had detected the success and chosen that very moment to make their presence known. So, after centuries of impatient waiting, the first peaceful contact with extraterrestrial beings had happened in the second half of the 21st century which had actually turned out to be more of a hindrance for further technological progress than anything else. Pity it had to be the Vulcans.

Now, in the 22nd century, as they were onboard Starfleet’s very first warp-5 starship called Enterprise NX-01, sitting in the captain’s mess room, enjoying chef’s wonderful dinner, Trip thought even meeting the Klingons would probably have been less annoying than that; at least, the big warriors would have put humankind quickly out of their misery instead of the slow and painful torture that was being inflicted upon them by their pointy-eared friends.

Especially by one particular pointy-eared friend.

“But T’Pol, I’ve told you a thousand times already! Yoda is the tiny, wrinkled, old and green character. It’s Jar Jar Binks that has the big eyes and floppy ears! How can you confuse these two!? It’s like… like…” – But apparently, he couldn’t even think of a wrongdoing that could equal to a mistake like that, so Trip just waved his arms around wildly, pieces of his dinner flying into every direction from the fork clutched firmly in his right hand.

The captain, already accustomed to his long-time best friend’s enthusiasm when it came to movies, only shook his head with a fond smile on his face and motioned for the steward on duty to exchange his glass of iced tea for another one – preferably one that didn’t have mashed potato swimming next to the mint leaves in it.

Their Vulcan crew member, still clearly so appalled at being corrected that she even forgot to give a lecture about proper table manners and dinner etiquette of starship officials, raised an eyebrow challengingly.

“So, then it’s the floppy-eared one that talks backwards?”

The chief engineer gave a defeated sigh.

“Give up, I do.” – He took such a big gulp of his own tea that it appeared as if he wanted to drown himself in it. – “Completely hopeless, it is.” – He finished afterwards with the verdict.

T’Pol wasn’t done yet though.

“Let me get this straight: humans thought extraterrestrials were either ugly, tiny gnomes or 2-meter tall… what exactly was that anyway?”

Trip sighed again.

“A Gungan.”

“A what?”

“I just said: a _Gungan_.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like that before.”

“Just because Vulcans don’t have an imagination it doesn’t mean---”

“And every alien speaks English although none of them can construct a proper sentence?”

“It’s not my fault---”

“And humans are everywhere, particularly ruling the entire Galaxy, while all the other species are only there for comic relief?”

Trip gaped like a fish out of water while John tried very hard not to choke on his fried chicken from repressed laughter. _‘Trip, my boy, you’ve gotten yourself into this mess’_ , he thought with mirth when his friend looked at him, silently asking for support the captain was unwilling to give. _‘I have a hard enough time working with her on a daily basis, I definitely will not get into an argument about Star Wars with her. No, thanks.’_ They had just finished a long away mission during which they had explored the moon of a planet they had found. The moon hadn’t been in the Vulcan database so they had thought it could be something interesting. Well, the idea hadn’t been bad, but in the end, it had proven to be just that: a moon. Anyway, they were back now and deadly tired. Jonathan just wanted to eat then go to sleep.

The chief engineer gave his once-best-friend-now-traitor an accusatory glare before taking a deep breath; assumingly preparing himself for a lengthy lecture about how not to take science fiction too seriously… But before he could begin, Enterprise suddenly gave an enormous jolt, causing everything to fly off the table, while the three occupants of the room had a hard time staying on their seats.

T'Pol grabbed the table firmly to keep from following the cutlery and plates in their freefall, the captain let his chair slide back against the wall behind him and pressed into it for support, and Trip took hold of the door handle with one hand while he pressed the comms with the other.

“Engineering! What the hell just happened?”

_“We’ve fallen out of warp, sir.”_ – Answered a lieutenant who was in charge during second shift, his voice clearly agitated.

Trip rolled his eyes, although his colleague could not see him.

“I’d noticed that, Andrews! The question is: why?”

_“We don’t know sir… Working on it.”_

“Great… Any injuries?”

By now the ship had come to a complete halt and Trip could hear groans and moans in the background.

_“A few bumps and bruises, commander. Nothing serious. We’re reporting them to the bridge right now then I’ll send some to sickbay.”_

“I’m on my way. Tucker out.”

The captain had risen and was now trying to get the salad that had landed on him off of his uniform.

“What could have happened?” – He wondered.

“I don’t know, sir, but I fully intend to find out.” – Without waiting for approval of this plan, Trip was gone, leaving a soaked captain and a somewhat shaken sub-commander alone.

“Captain, with your permission… I would like to go to the bridge and see the situation myself.” – The sub-commander said, pulling a carrot out of her now unusually messy hair.

“Permission granted. I’m coming with you.”

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

“Damage report!” – The captain demanded as soon as he stepped out of the turbolift. He was closely followed by T’Pol who wordlessly shooed her second shift counterpart out of her seat then sat down immediately to press a few buttons on the computer.

“Nine people have reported to sickbay, sir, neither very seriously injured. Engines don’t work, we’re sitting duck right now. And… Ahm…”

“Yes, Lieutenant? Continue.”

“We really don’t know what happened…” – The poor woman looked up at her captain nervously, knowing very well this wasn’t what the man had wanted to hear. – “I’m sorry, sir.” – She added for good measure.

Archer sank into his command chair and pressed the button.

“Engineering? Trip? What’s going on down there?”

_“It’s still a mystery, cap’n.”_ – Trip’s voice could be heard loud and clearly from the speakers, his southern accent even more prominent than normally. Archer knew it meant things were real bad, since every time Trip got stressed out, he slipped back into his childhood Florida accent. And Trip, being one of the bravest men Jonathan knew, didn’t get stressed out easily. – _“Everything seems to be in perfect order. They’re just… not working.”_

By the time the chief engineer finished his sentence, a panicked Hoshi and a half-dressed Reed entered the bridge. It was obvious they both had hastily grabbed their clothes and rushed to see what had happened, without having fully awakened.

The captain motioned for them to be quiet.

“How is that possible?” – He asked his best friend.

_“Something is blocking the computer. We enter commands and data but the engines don’t get it. It all gets lost somewhere in there.”_

“What!?” – Hoshi squeaked. – “Is this affecting life support as well?” – She voiced the question on everyone’s minds.

By now, Travis had arrived as well and he was listening intently to the answer, hoping the best, with everyone else.

_“Doesn’t seem to be.”_ – Trip quickly reassured them. – _“For now it appears to be exclusively the engines.”_ – His voice indicated he considered the situation personal now: nothing or no one was messing with HIS engines and going away with it! Whatever or whoever it was, they would regret having angered him.

“Can you repair it?” – Asked Archer, feeling a bit concerned: Trip was a great engineer. No: the best. But he wasn’t a computer specialist. If the problem really was in the program, would he be able to solve it? And if not him then who else?

Trip, also having the same worry, mustered as much self-confidence as he could when he answered with a promise of doing his best. He just hoped his best would be enough…

After having cut the connection, the captain turned to T’Pol:

“Sub-commander, go and help Trip. You two need to work on this together.”

“Aye, sir.”

Before the door of the turbolift closed behind her, the captain held it back, looking the Vulcan deep into the eyes.

“And T’Pol?”

“Yes, captain…?”

“Try not to kill each other.”

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

Everyone who had ever spoken to Trip more than just a few words, knew very well that the chief engineer had held a grudge against Vulcans his entire life and it was not going to change anytime soon. It didn’t mean he _hated_ every Vulcan that came his way, per se, but he never actively sought out their company and didn’t plan on making friends with any of them. In his opinion, pointy-eared people belonged on their own planet and not on Earth. Or, if they insisted on being on Earth, he was fine with that – as long as they were there to observe and not change humankind’s way of living. Sadly, Vulcans had been doing their best to halt human progress ever since they first greeted Zefram Cochrane with that ridiculous hand-gesture of theirs in 2063, deeming earthlings ‘stupid’ and ‘not ready yet’ and, for some reason or another, they felt like they had the right to intervene in everything Starfleet ever achieved and treat the rightful habitants of Earth like their very own cute fluffy pets. That was the reason Henry Archer had never gotten to see his own engine fly and that was also the reason Jonathan Archer would never forgive them. That, in itself, would be enough for Trip to be angry as hell – Jonathan was his best friend… more like big brother, really. And if somebody hurt Jonathan Archer, they had Trip to answer to. But even before that Trip had always felt like shaking some Vulcans and screaming ‘Leave us alone! Go home and never come back’ into their faces.

Being forced to work so closely with one of them was a challenge for the young chief engineer. It was bad enough they’d had a Vulcan dumped on the starship against the captain’s will and without his consent, but to have said Vulcan take HIS place as the captain’s second in command, a position he had earned and had been chosen for by the captain personally, was outright never-before-heard scandalous. How dare they!? They had nothing to do with Starfleet, they had no right to mess with the chain of command and they also didn’t have authority to deny the captain his privilege of choosing his own crew.

Only problem was: they _had_ done it and Starfleet hadn’t prevented it. As far as he knew, they hadn’t even tried. The cowards.

So, here he was, _third_ in command and outranked by someone who wasn’t even part of Starfleet, heck: wasn’t even human, and held a rank nobody had ever even heard of before on Earth. What did ‘sub-commander’ mean, anyway!? And it all didn’t matter because she was to be treated as a commander (something they at least understood) and that meant, she had seniority on her side. With her being about a hundred years old or so (who knows with these people!?) he didn’t stand a chance. Ha probably wouldn’t even live as long as she already had and she was still considered quite young among her people. Disgusting, really.

Nevertheless, he was a professional and he would behave accordingly. Always. Well, almost always. Okay, as soon as they’d be over this crisis, he could start. But right now…

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t poke your nose into all my systems. I’m telling you, they’re all fine! The problem is in the computer!”

“The captain has given me the order to help you with this problem. He said we needed to work together.” – She reminded him, impassive as ever, not even a hint of any emotion on her face.

This only served to further infuriate Trip. Why couldn’t she be normal at least for once!?

“Yes! ‘Help’ doesn’t mean you should check everything I’ve already done! Helping means you assist me with what I need to do now! Namely check the computer system, which, by the way, should be your field of expertise rather than mine. Instead you’re re-doing my job as if you think I’m not capable of doing it on my own!”

“As a matter of fact: human computer technology certainly isn’t my ‘field of expertise’, commander. I’m a Vulcan, I don’t have to know your systems.”

“Oh, so you aren’t the ‘science officer’ then, are you?”

For once, this had rendered her speechless. No doubt only temporarily but still: a big achievement in Trip’s eyes. They both knew her being a science officer was only a fabricated title; from the Vulcans to the Humans with love. It had nothing to do with the real reason she was on Enterprise: guidance, according to her and espionage, according to him. It depended whom you asked.

“What can I assist you with then?” – She asked with forced politeness and; probably for the first time ever in her hundred-year life, without a smart-aleck comeback to Trip’s biting question.

The chief engineer gave her a long stare as if he was trying to see into her very soul but, of course, couldn’t even see past her pointy ears and hard, expressionless eyes. He shrugged.

“Try to find the glitch in the computer.” – With that, he turned away from her and proceeded to ignore her altogether for the rest of their ‘cooperation’.

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

Working soundlessly side-by-side had functioned great for about twenty minutes.

“Damn it!” – Exclaimed Trip with irritation, causing two ensigns working nearby to flinch. They weren’t used to their overly optimistic and always bubbly boss being this annoyed with anything; usually, he was the cool one under any kind of duress, even when they were in mortal peril. Of course, usually he wasn’t working next to a Vulcan… 

The truth was, Trip had a difficult time resisting the urge to bang his head into the nearest wall when his diagnosis had come back flashing the script ‘error’ for the fifth time.

T’Pol gave him a cautious glance, clearly unsure whether she was allowed to speak now or not. Actually, if Trip hadn’t been so angry he would surely have noticed that he’d gone too far: he had hurt his colleague’s feelings without any real good reason to do so. Of course, while Vulcans always insisted they didn’t have feelings, it wasn’t entirely true either and this time, T’Pol was feeling a bit down.

Slowly, the sub-commander moved toward Trip.

“Is there a problem, commander?” – She asked somewhat tentatively, as if she were talking to small child prone to throwing tantrums at any given time.

“I just don’t understand! Everything is fine. Only that nothing is.”

“According to this, the engines aren’t working properly…” – Suggested T’Pol carefully. – “That’s the only thing I can read out of that error message, commander.”

“But the engines are fine! I’ve told you at least ten times! The computer’s wrong.”

“The computer is never wrong.” – Trip gave her a glare that could frighten even the bravest Klingon. – “Perhaps we should---”

But Trip never found out what she’d meant to suggest because at that moment several unexpected things happened at once: they felt the ship shake, making it difficult to remain standing and causing them to grab the closest thing for support – each other. They heard a very loud and unusual noise that sounded like an old motorbike Trip had only ever seen in old films and T’Pol had probably never even heard of. They also had to close their eyes and turn away their heads because suddenly, they were engulfed in a very bright light that hurt their eyes even through closed lids. And the wind… the wind nearly blew them over, thanks to which they instinctively tightened their hold on the other’s arms. Trip had a fleeting thought that he would have permanent scars where her nails dug into his skin but he also knew he’d be very glad if that would turn out to be the only negative result of this… whatever this was.

Then, as suddenly as it all had begun, everything calmed down and it was all over, back to normal again. Except for one thing…

“Engineering to the Bridge. Captain…?”

_“Bridge here.”_

“Sir, ahm… I don’t really know how to tell you thiss…”

_“What is it--- Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”_

“Crewman Simmons, sir.”

_“Crewman Simmons. What is it? Where is Trip?”_

“That’s exactly the problem, sir… ahm… the commander and the sub-commander have… I mean… I realize it might sound crazy… but they have… disappeared.”


	2. Chapter 2.

**Chapter 2.**

“Tell me again how this happened, Crewman!” – Bellowed the captain, wanting to hear the story for about the third time, still having been unable to process what he’d been told twice already. – “They just… vanished?”

“There was a loud roar… strong shaking… a very bright light… and then… they were gone. Sir…” – The young crewman was clearly overwhelmed with the situation.

As a matter of fact, so were all the other crew members who’d been present for the phenomenon. The Enterprise was still a very new ship, prone to some troubles here and there but they hadn’t ever experienced anything of this kind and right now didn’t have a clue what they should do. They’d only been out in Space for three months and the young engineers were still relying on their ‘Overlord’ a lot, none of them being used to making decisions on their own or even speaking directly to the Captain – normally, this privilege was reserved for Trip alone. Having lost their anchor had thrown them off their game and they all looked scared and lost. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, Jonathan Archer would have found it funny that apparently, Trip was as much a Kindergarten teacher to his people as he was their boss.

But right now wasn’t time for finding anything funny.

“Malcolm, have you found anything?”

“No, sir, but we’re still looking.” – The Chief of Security answered somewhat absent-mindedly, his expert eyes roaming the tiny space where his friend and colleague had been standing not so long ago. It was empty now with no traces of the two persons who should for all intents and purposes still be there.

Lieutenant Malcolm Reed had a hard time handling the case with his habitual professionalism, given that Trip had become a good friend over the months they’d been serving together on Enterprise and he felt horribly worried for the younger man. It wasn’t as if he didn’t care about T’Pol at all but his thoughts were mainly on Tucker. Funny really, since at the beginning of their tour, he couldn’t have imagined he’d ever get so fond of Trip. He had found the young southern somewhat goofy upon meeting him for the first time and had been guilty of thinking his position on Enterprise was only due to his friendship with the captain. He’d been sure the man wouldn’t last a month in the Space and would beg to be brought home to safety at the first given opportunity. He couldn’t have been more wrong though: since then the chief engineer had proven himself over and over again and by now Malcolm had no doubt he’d been the best choice for the job. He was sure Trip knew very well he was fooling people with his somewhat childish behavior and easy-going nature but he also suspected that this camouflage was at least partly intentional. This way everyone got a big surprise the first time they saw him handle a difficult situation with an ease many could be proud of. Being underestimated could come in handy sometimes after all.

Now, Reed just hoped the young man would be just as spectacularly successful this time…

Apparently, he wasn’t alone with his worry and frustration, if the captain’s loud sigh was anything to go by.

“Well, at least the engines are working fine again… Trip was right; there wasn’t anything wrong with them, it was just the computer playing tricks on us because of… whatever it was that caused them to disappear.” – Normally, it would be part of the chief engineer’s self-appointed role to be the overly optimistic one but since he wasn’t here to do the job, Jonathan had decided to voice the only good news they had. – “Hoshi, I want you to try and find out if there is anything around here that could explain this.” – He said, turning to the red-eyed Communications Officer.

“But, captain, I wouldn’t know how to even begin…” – She said in a small voice, looking around Engineering in panic as if asking for help. Sadly, none came. – “I’m not the science officer…” – She added helplessly.

The captain had to remind himself not to lose it in front of his crew because it certainly wouldn’t help either the situation or the morale.

“I know that, Hoshi, but T’Pol is not here right now. Neither is Trip to come up with a creative solution like he usually does, so we have to make do without them now. They need our help and they’re relying on us this time to save them…”

“Yes, sir.”

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

Trip awoke with a sudden jolt and found himself lying face down on the cold and hard floor. His head was pounding madly and upon trying to sit up, realized his hands were bound together behind his back, making it quite difficult to move. It took him several tries to manage and turn onto his back without breaking his arms in the process, but finally he was able to take a look around. His surroundings were totally unfamiliar: the high and mold-covered once-upon-a-time white ceiling, the two tiny windows about three meters from the ground that had bars on them but no glass, the dirt-covered concrete floor and the thick, wooden door all made it clear – they were in a holding cell.

Next to him, T’Pol had already succeeded in sitting up properly and was bearing her predicament with somewhat more dignity than her colleague. Then again, she didn’t have a large bleeding gash on her forehead like Trip did.

“Commander, I’m glad you’re awake. I was getting worried.”

“How long have we been here?” – Asked Trip, trying to catch his breath before attempting to move again.

“I woke about half an hour ago.” – Was all T’Pol could offer. – “Nobody has come here in that time.” – She added helpfully, correctly predicting the next logical question.

“Have they only taken the two of us?”

“It would appear so.”

Trip nodded and after sitting up with difficulty, leaned against the wall.

“I wonder where we are.” – Aside from the obvious, that is. – “I hope the others are all right on Enterprise…”

“I hope _you_ are all right, Commander… That wound on your forehead doesn’t look good. Do you think you have a concussion?”

Trip experimentally shook his head a bit then waited to find out if he had become overly dizzy. So far so good.

“I don’t think so.” – But he sure wished he’d be able to wipe away the blood that had now trickled into his eyes, making them sting and feel sticky.

“Do you have any idea what has caused this injury?” – She inquired, not being able to remember anything that warranted it.

Trip just shrugged.

“Rough handling, most probably.”

“Humans are very delicate.” – Trip gave her a glare that said more than words could, so she quickly added: - “I didn’t mean that as an insult. It was merely an observation.”

Her human colleague sneered:

“Could you maybe try and _observe_ a way out of this mess?”

They both began working on their ropes in hope to get free.

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

Hours of searching had given no results whatsoever and the remaining crew of Enterprise was starting to become desperate.

“Come on, people! Give me _something_!” – This seemed to have quickly become the captain’s favorite line judging by how often he said it lately.

Tensions were running high and when Reed had to shake his head sadly again, Hoshi burst into frustrated tears and ran from the bridge without a word to anyone, leaving her station unattended. She returned about five minutes later, not looking at anyone and never giving an explanation. Nobody asked; they appreciated the fact that she’d returned at all. They all knew Hoshi had the hardest time of them all adjusting to life on a starship and losing two crew members like that had shaken her to the core. Jonathan honestly hoped that as soon as things went back to normal and they had their friends back – because they had to get them back! – she’d be all right as well.

“Captain…” – Hoshi started uncertainly. – “There’s some plasma traces around us. Very faint, it was not easy to detect them at all. It’s definitely not ours. Might be from another ship.”

“What kind of ship, Ensign?”

“I really wouldn’t know, sir. And I also don’t know how it’s possible we didn’t detect it before. I mean, if it’s true it must have been incredibly close to us.”

Reed whipped his head toward her.

“You mean like it was following us here? Circling us? Is it even possible?” – The third question was directed at their Helmsman, Ensign Mayweather, who was now furiously pressing buttons on his own station.

“Theoretically, it’s possible.” – He explained. – “But highly unlikely. We were at warp 3 before the… attack. Catching someone at that speed requires skill.”

“But it’s possible, isn’t it?”

“Yes, sir. It is.”

“Good. That’s something we can start with. Good job, Hoshi. Now, let’s try to find out what kind of ship it could be and where it has gone.”

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

T’Pol was furiously trying to cut through her ropes by rubbing them against the door handle. It was very difficult, given the fact that the handle was far too high for her. She wasn’t making much of a progress except for having made her shoulders hurt and her wrists bleed, so against her Vulcan nature, she was getting increasingly agitated. She also found her colleague’s apparent calmness somewhat infuriating.

“Does this happen to humans often?” – She chanced.

Trip, who was struggling with his own approach – trying to wriggle his hands out of the cords – made a face.

“You mean: do we get abducted by aliens X-Files style on a daily basis? I would say ‘no’ to that.”

“What’s X-Files?”

“Never mind.” – There was a loud ‘pop’ immediately followed by a muttered curse and a groan of pain. T’Pol was still blinking in surprise, trying to see what had happened when Trip exclaimed triumphantly. – “I’m out!”

With that, he crossed the room to the science officer and untied her hands as well.

“How did you do that?” – She asked, examining her throbbing wrists in wonder.

“I dislocated my thumb… hurt like hell. But it did the trick.” – He proudly showed her his now somewhat purple and swollen right thumb.

“That looks painful.”

“It is painful.” – He said brightly, not looking particularly bothered. – “I’d only ever seen this done in movies but always wanted to try it.”

“You’re sick, Tucker.”

Instead of taking the bait, Trip motioned toward one of the high windows.

“Vulcans are quite athletic, right? Come on, T’Pol, you can stand on my shoulders and look out. See where we are.”

She raised an eyebrow.

“And just how do you suggest I get on your shoulders?”

“We’ll manage.”

It was easier said than done. They were struggling to find their balance and T’Pol ended up sprawled out on the ground twice after Trip had attempted to stand with her but in the end, at third try, they were somewhat steady and the sub-commander managed to get hold of the bars to keep herself from falling again.

She turned her head from side to side, trying to ascertain their surroundings.

“An interesting view.” - She determined.

“I’ll say…”

She aimed a small kick at his shoulder and said through gritted teeth:

“Stop staring at my backside and step a bit to the left.” – They was a small movement underneath her. – “Your other left, Tucker.” – Movement again, and finally, she could take a better look.

“So?” – He groaned. T’Pol seemed to be quite lithe but in reality, she weighed more than he’d have imagined. Of course, he valued his life enough not to say it out loud.

“We’re on the first floor. There are plants outside. At least I think these red and orange things are plants.”

“Not flesh-eating ones, I hope?”

Ignoring his comment, she went on.

“Certainly nothing that could hold a gun. Seems like the coast is clear.”

“Any idea which planet it is?”

“Negative. I don’t remember seeing this landscape in the Vulcan database.”

“Great.” – He carefully lowered her down then flexed his shoulders to get the blood flowing normally again. She gave him a nasty glare at his display before flopping down into a crossed-legged sitting position and closing her eyes. – You’re not about to start meditating right now, are you?”

“Any better ideas?”

“Oh, I don’t know… Trying to escape comes to mind.”

“How?”

“Do I have to have the answers to everything?” – He took a deep breath in frustration. – “I thought Vulcans were supposed to be the smart ones.”

“Indeed. We are smart enough not to make hasty decisions and dive into the unknown unprepared.”

“And how do you prepare for this?”

“You don’t.”

“Just wonderful. Really. Pff… Indiana Jones would know what to do.”

“Who’s---”

“Forget it.”

T’Pol then started her meditation while Trip walked up and down in the small room, giving the impression of a caged wild animal.


	3. Chapter 3.

**Chapter 3.**

Trip had been checking out every corner of the room and pulling at the door with seemingly no reason at all for the better part of the last half an hour. By now, T’Pol was getting increasingly fed up with it.

“I can’t meditate with you doing that.” – She snapped.

“Oh, I’m sorry I’m disturbing your vacation time, sub-commander!” – Quite honestly, Trip was getting just as angry with his cellmate as she was with him. She was behaving as if they were chilling out on the beach instead of in a holding cell on a planet they didn’t know anything about, held captive by aliens they hadn’t even seen yet and had no idea what they wanted with them. For all they knew, they could be cannibals preparing them to be the dessert at dinnertime. She wasn’t even trying to find a way out, for Pete’s sake! – “I didn’t know you were planning on spending the rest of your 200-year-long life in this cell.”

“Enterprise is going to come for us. I’m sure they’re already---”

“They have no idea where we are, T’Pol! We didn’t exactly get an invitation card with the address printed on it in bright red letters for them to find.”

“Captain Archer will---”

“He will _try_. But we need to help him. We need to get out of here and contact them.”

She gave up attempting to meditate with a sigh.

“All right. Do you have a plan?”

“As a matter of fact: yes. I do.”

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

“Phlox, do you think they’re all right after… whatever it was that took them?” – After hours of searching without any explanation that made sense, the captain finally voiced the question that had been on his mind the entire time.

The doctor sighed and then gave Archer an encouraging smile. Not his trademark wide one but it was still a nice gesture.

“There’s no reason to believe they’re not. Based on what the engineers have said, I think it’s safe to assume they were simply transported off Enterprise. Not much differently than how ours works.”

“Our transporter doesn’t make the ship shake; which was only felt in Engineering, I might add; and it also doesn’t cause a bright light.” – The captain reminded. – “What if it’s dangerous to humans?”

“Well… I agree it was a bit unusual. But other species, other technologies. It still doesn’t mean it’s harmful to humans. _Or Vulcans_.”

Jonathan had the decency to look somewhat ashamed. Of course he was worried for T’Pol as well. He wanted to have both his commanders back. But Trip… he was special; he was the little brother he’d never had, someone he’d been working with for years and they had been spending most of his free time together. Someone who understood his passion for water polo, who knew how important finishing his father’s work was for him and who knew all his faults and still never judged. If something happened to Trip… No, he wouldn’t even go there.

“We have to find them.”

“I know, captain. And we will.”

The captain of Earth’s first warp-5 starship nodded and ran a hand through his short hair.

“I swear, Phlox, when we get them back, Trip’s never gonna leave the ship again. He’s always getting into trouble, I’ve never seen anyone like him.” – Aside from himself, maybe. And A.G. Robinson, of course. Oh, God, how was he going to tell A.G. if…?

“This time he didn’t do anything.” – The doctor reminded him gently. – “And now he didn’t leave the ship on his own account either.”

A sigh of frustration.

“I know that. Still, it doesn’t even surprise me it’s him who disappeared… Do you think it would help if I chained him to his bed?” – Phlox just chuckled but refrained from saying anything. – “But at least he’s not alone… Right? I mean… I know that T’Pol and him aren’t the best of friends… khm…”

“Captain, I believe that was the understatement of the year.”

“I just hope they won’t kill each other.”

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

T’Pol wanted to kill her colleague.

“You can’t really mean that.”

“Why not? It’s a great plan!”

“It’s a disgusting plan.”

They were standing next to each other, contemplating a roughly 50x40cm hole Trip had managed to open in the wall by poking around and finding the weak spot. Then he had kicked and hit it until it had collapsed – opening the way right into the walls which, by the looks of it, was full of tunnels. Very narrow, dark and dirty tunnels...

“Those spider-like things won’t hurt you. I’m sure they’re harmless.” – Trip assured but didn’t sound very convinced. Truthfully, those ‘spiders’ were as big as his fist, had 10 legs instead of 8 and their bright-red glowing eyes were somewhat disconcerting. But still, they couldn’t sit around waiting for their captors to come back. – “If you want me to go in first…”

“No. It’s fine. I’ll go.”

With that, she tentatively squeezed through the hole and landed on the other side with a soft ‘thump’. A second later, Trip heard her cough echo inside the walls.

“You okay?” – He asked, poking his head into the hole, trying to make her out in the darkness.

“Just marvelous, commander.”

“Okay… I’m coming, too. Get out of the way.”

It was more difficult for Trip to fit through the tiny opening since he was taller than T’Pol and much less cat-like but after a few seconds of struggling, he was coughing up dust, kneeling next to the sub-commander.

“You have one of your harmless spider-friends in your hair.” – She pointed out, wriggling her nose in disgust.

“ _Jeez_!”

“I believe it would be advisable for us to remain quiet, commander. We don’t want anyone to hear us.”

“But that thing _bit_ me!” – Whispered Trip, furiously battling with the monster that was now chewing away on his head. – “What the hell is that!?”

“Silence, Tucker! Let’s move and try to get out. I don’t want to stay here any longer than necessary.”

By now the chief engineer had gotten rid of his attacker and after glaring at it angrily for a few seconds, they both tried to look around, guessing which direction they should take. It was still very dark but their eyes had gotten used to it at least to the degree where they could see where the other one was.

“To the left?”

“I don’t know…”

“Guess.”

“This way.” – T’Pol decided finally and the two of them started carefully crawling.

Sadly, the ‘tunnel’ (more like just space between huge bricks that made the wall) was so small, it was very difficult to make any progress, while thanks to the dust they had to suppress coughs all the time.

“You still find this a great plan?” – T’Pol whispered right after she had hit her head the third time against something in front of her she hadn’t noticed because of the darkness in time to avoid it.

“Yes.”

“Good for you. Personally, I think this is the most stupid thing you’ve ever come up with. And that says a lot, considering it was also your idea to send a birthday card to Soval that had some crazy chipmunks singing ‘Happy birthday’ and couldn’t be turned off.”

“Alvin, Simon and Theodore aren’t crazy! And it wasn’t so bad.”

“The first three times, maybe.”

“I bet he secretly liked it.”

T’Pol stopped and turned back toward Trip with an unbelieving expression on her face.

“He wanted to have all of you court-martialed!”

“Not me. I signed it with your name.”

“WHAT!?”

“I thought we were supposed to stay quiet…”

“Tucker, I am this close to punching you right now.”

Trip just chuckled.

“You know. It’s not even the craziest thing I’ve ever done. I think the most stupid thing was when I lost a bet and had to drink all that liquor at Greg’s party when I was 16 and then I ended up---”

“I don’t want to know.”

“Your loss. It’s an interesting story.”

“I’m sure it is.”

“So then can I tell you? It was my first time---”

“Shut up! It’s none of my business how you had your first time.”

“--- getting drunk. That’s what I was about to say. That was the first time I got drunk.”

“And it has damaged your brain forever, apparently.”

Trip smirked even though T’Pol couldn’t see him.

“You have a dirty imagination, sub-commander!” – He beamed. – “I wouldn’t have thought---"

“Pssst! Can you hear that?”

“What?”

“That sound…”

Vulcans had better hearing than humans, so she had caught the muffled speech first. After climbing a few more meters, Trip could hear them as well.

“Do you think these are the aliens that took us?”

“I believe so.”

“Where are they? Below us? I thought we were on the first floor.”

“We are! There might be a basement…”

“Or a crypt!? Did you know that vampires always hide away in the dungeons? They sleep in their coffins during the day and---”

“Shhh! I can see them.”

“How?”

She tapped Trip’s shoulder to direct his attention to a small gap on the floor just by her hand. Leaning down to get closer to it, they could indeed make out forms moving around under them.

And what creatures they were!

All five aliens they could see were about three meters tall, had a semi-transparent light bluish skin and their oval-shaped, almost egg-like heads were totally bald. They were all wearing long white gowns that reached the ground and had very long and skinny arms sticking out from under the garment they used to gesticulate wildly with. They were talking in hushed voices and rapidly among each other, looking for all the world as if they were a secret society having an underground gathering. Trip was immediately reminded of the folklore he’d read about druids and their rituals as a kid. Were they meant to be used for some kind of sacrifice!?

“Uka'thos.” – Whispered T’Pol, seemingly in awe. – “I’ve heard many stories about them from my grandparents when I was a youngling but never saw one myself. Only crude drawings.”

“What’s so special about these ‘tos’ thingies? They look like enormous albino praying mantises to me.”

“Their species is called _Uka'tho_.” – T’Pol repeated slowly, her eyes glued to the creatures below them. In the small beam of light seeking up to them from where the aliens were gathered, Trip could see how her eyes were opened wide and her mouth shaped in a silent ‘oh’. – “They are incredibly intelligent and much further developed than any other humanoids we know of. Science is the most important discipline for them. They like to study _everything_ they come across.”

“By ‘everything’ you mean: other species?”

“Unfortunately, that’s the logical conclusion.”

“Wonderful. So we have really become victims of alien abduction!” – Trip said sarcastically. – “Mulder would be so thrilled!” – Apparently, she was as well.

“They prefer to keep to themselves and to protect the knowledge they have acquired. That’s why there is so little _we_ know about _them_. They don’t even have one specific planet; they live in small colonies and move every couple of centuries or so. They’ve been a mystery for hundreds of years.”

Trip was watching T’Pol now more than the Uka'thos, thinking how he’d like her to look at _him_ with at least the tenth of that wonder instead of the hatred he usually felt radiating from her.

“Well… they seem to have some problems with their manners though. Or is this a normal first contact for them, just taking people like that?” – He asked, by far not as impressed as she was.

T’Pol was about to answer when suddenly, they felt the ground move under them again and the light, just like before, appeared, momentarily blinding them. When they dared open their eyes again, they found themselves one story below, crouching in front of five enormous aliens who were looking down at them with all their fifteen eyes. Trip had a fleeting thought about how he hadn’t even realized before that they each had one eye in the middle of their foreheads as well, when one of them held up something that looked similar to their universal translator, and spoke in English:

“Welcome, friends. It’s an honor having you here with us.”


	4. Chapter 4.

Trip and T’Pol were unceremoniously pulled to their feet by one of the giant creatures like marionettes; the strong hold on their arms and painful yanks in total contrast with the kind words that had been spoken to them. The chief engineer nearly snorted: just how overly smart could these aliens be if they thought that any words that were right away belied by actions would reassure them!? Not to mention how they’d been _kidnapped_ from their own starship in the first place… He’d need to have some serious talk with T’Pol about choosing better who deserved her worship and who didn’t.

“We’ve been wondering how long it would take for you to start looking for an escape. You’ll be pleased to know that you managed it quicker than 99,2% of the species we’ve tested. Though…” – The alien added as an afterthought. – “… only if we disregard the time you spent unconscious. That was longer than any other test subject’s.”

Test subject!?

“So, this was just a test!? You were monitoring us the whole time?” – Snapped Trip. He ignored T’Pol who was trying to stop his outburst by stomping on his foot. – “Are you all crazy, or what!?”

“Commander!” – The Vulcan hissed. – “Stay quiet!”

Now Trip rounded on her.

“No, I’m not staying quiet! This here…” – He motioned around passionately. – “… is plain ridiculous. And these _Humpty Dumpties_ …” – “ He pointed accusingly at the tall egg-headed ‘praying mantises’. – “… are not intelligent. If anything, they are _stupid_!”

“Tucker! Shut up, that’s an order!”

“Oh, an order, is it?”

“Yes, commander: an order!”

“Issued by whom if I may ask?”

T’Pol narrowed her eyes dangerously. Now really wasn’t time for subordination.

“By your superior.”

“Superior!? I DON’T CARE FOR YOUR ORDERS!” – He was shouting by now while the Uka'thos watched their argument with great interest. – “You shouldn’t be my superior! As a matter of fact: you shouldn’t even be with us at all! Jon personally chose _me_ as his first officer, the Vulcans had no right---”

“So, is that why you hate me so much from day one?” – She hung her head. – “You detest my presence?”

Trip seemed to have lost most of his anger after his confession and was now breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon. This was the first time he’d said this out loud; he hadn’t even spoken with Jonathan about this yet.

“I _detest_ having been sidelined by you.” – He eventually confirmed. Now that it was out, he couldn’t seem to stop talking. – “I was never even officially _told_. You announced in the middle of our first mission that you outranked me when you didn’t agree with something I wanted to do and that was it. You took command and I had no chance anymore. But, of course, that’s what you people always do, isn’t it? Decide things, declare them and leave no room for argument.”

T'Pol thought for the first time about it that way. Before that, she’d never considered what it must have been like for the humans to have a Vulcan dumped on their doorstep. She especially hadn’t thought about how Commander Tucker had been wronged more than anyone by that. He never seemed to mind… Maybe, just maybe humans were able to suppress their emotions just as good as Vulcans. For a while at least.

“I think…” – But she, for once, didn’t know what she thought.

What had happened hadn’t been her decision; she’d had just as much say in it as Trip. Namely nothing. It wasn’t as if she’d been thrilled to be confined to an Earth vessel completely alone, among members of a species that didn’t have qualms about voicing how much they disliked her very existence. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t noticed the suspicious looks and hateful glares that followed her, especially in the first few weeks. Or if she hadn’t heard the condemnation in the captain’s voice in the beginning of their cooperation. She’d, of course, noticed they all had believed her to be a spy at first and she’d had to work hard to prove herself to every one of them. But, in the end, things seemed to have gotten better and it had been the captain himself who’d ultimately asked her to stay when she’d had the opportunity to leave. She could have and then Tucker would have the position he wished for. Maybe she should have left? Had staying been the wrong decision? And if so: could she still rectify it?

Assuming, of course, that they’d get out of here alive… The aliens might have other things on their minds. One of them, possibly the leader, spoke, using the translator again.

“We’ve chosen you…” – He or she (it was impossible to determine their gender, or whether they even had any) pointed at Trip. – “… because we scanned your ship and you are the most intelligent of them all.”

This time, Trip actually did snort.

“The most intelligent? Jeez, you’re really not smart folks, are you? Didn’t you know I’m the stupid one? The clown of the ship? Just ask her then!” – His eyes flashed toward T’Pol again, clearly not caring about tactic or safety anymore. – “There’s Hoshi. She’s a regular genius. Speaks about fifty languages. Or Travis. He grew up on a spaceship, he’s a regular space boomer and knows much more than most of us. Or Doctor Phlox. He knows how to treat dozens of different species. Or even our resident Vulcan. The science officer. Sub-commander. The captain’s _second in command_.” – He counted them off on his fingers. – “I’m just someone who’s got to tag along because of his friendship with the captain. Right, sub-commander?”

“I never said that.”

“But you thought it. Along with everyone else.”

“Don’t even try to presume to know what I think, Tucker. You’d be surprised.”

“Oh, I’m sure I’d be!”

“ENOUGH!” – Trip and T’Pol flinched and quieted at once. – “Better. Where was I? Oh, yes: so, you are the most intelligent of them all, based on the criteria we have. You are resourceful and quick-thinking. You’re brave. You have logic…” – T’Pol immediately raised an eyebrow in disbelief at that statement which didn’t escape the Uka'tho’s attention. – “Yes, he does. He just chooses not to follow it sometimes because he’s also creative. And that’s fine, that’s what moves the universe forward.”

The Vulcan muttered ‘Sometimes?’ under her breath while Trip shook his head.

“Just what kind of scan was that if I may ask?”

“Your technology is not developed enough for you to understand.” – Came the matter-of-fact reply.

“I see… I guess we’re not ‘developed enough’ to understand the small earthquake you created by bringing us here, are we? Or the light that nearly blinded us twice already.”

“We apologize for any inconvenience. We just wanted to have you here.”

The chief engineer rolled his eyes.

“Ever heard of making an appointment?”

It was not easy to determine with these creatures but Trip could have bet they were looking slightly amused. If that was a good thing for them or not, the chief engineer couldn’t tell.

“So, why am _I_ here then?” – Wanted to know T’Pol, slightly hurt.

“By accident. We didn’t take it into account that the human would be holding someone’s hand. He’s the one who brought you here.”

The two Enterprise crew members looked at each other. They didn’t remember touching each other at all. Why would they? Normally, they kept as big a distance as possible.

“Thanks a lot, Tucker.” – She spat.

Trip made a face but didn’t comment. He asked the aliens instead:

“What do you want with me?”

“Finally, we’ve come to the subject we want to discuss! My friend, we are going to test the workings of your brain.” – It was another Uka'tho, one that had been observing them silently until now. It seemed clearly excited about the prospect of examining a human being.

“Beg your pardon?”

Another Uka'tho stepped closer and looked down at him with three calculating eyes.

“We want to know how the human brain works and how it reacts to certain impulses.”

“Impulses like…?”

“Fear. Tiredness. Pain.”

“Oh…” – He felt T’Pol move closer to him as if trying to protect him. If he didn’t have more pressing matters on his mind he’d have wondered why she wasn’t happy to get rid of him this way.

“We’re really sorry the first contact happened this way.” – One of the aliens offered politely.

“If it’s all the same to you, we could go back to Enterprise and then you’d invite us using the proper channels and----”

“Sorry.” – Obviously, it couldn’t be that easy. – “But we can send the Vulcan back; with her memories of this place and conversation erased, of course.”

“Of course.” – Trip rolled his eyes.

He was ignored.

“We only need you. We aren’t really interested in… Vulcans’ minds.” – The way the alien said it suggested they must have had a prior encounter and not found her kind too appealing. Not a big surprise there.

Trip sighed exasperatedly.

“Why is it that every species we meet seems to hold a grudge against your people?” – He asked somewhat hysterically, throwing his arms in the air. 

“I’ll have you know that we have many allies.” – She answered calmly, determined not to take the bait.

“Oh, yes? Pity we have only met enemies.”

“This only shows you haven’t been to many places yet.”

“It seemed like we have unfortunately chosen the wrong direction then. Which way should we go to meet those famous allies of yours? Into a _black hole_?”

Determination evaporated, she elbowed him in the side but to the Uka'thos she said through gritted teeth:

“Thank you for the kind offer, but I’d rather stay.”

Trip whipped his head toward her so quickly that his neck nearly snapped.

“What?”

“Something wrong with your hearing, commander? I said I’m staying.”

“You’re not still hero-worshipping them, are you?”

She looked at him with an inexplicably hurt expression.

“Yes, Tucker. Of course. I’m ‘hero-worshipping’ them.”

The aliens didn’t seem to care either way. The leader motioned for T’Pol to be brought into another cell while Trip was grabbed by another one and carried into a room that reminded him of Frankenstein’s lab.

He had a feeling he wouldn’t like what awaited him in there.

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

_Captain's Starlog, supplemental._

_We’ve been looking for Trip and T’Pol for three days now. We are following the plasma trail Hoshi has found but so far, without much success. Sometimes I see the crew start to lose hope and I know it’s up to me to keep them positive and to motivate them to work harder than ever. I know I can’t let them give up! It’s difficult though when I feel like I’m losing my mind myself._

“Computer, pause.”

Captain Jonathan Archer sat down on his bed and took Porthos into his arms to rub the tiny dog’s head just behind his ears the way he liked it the most. In turn, Porthos licked his face as if trying to console his master.

“Good boy. Computer, start recording again.”

_Yesterday, I had to notify Starfleet and the Vulcan High Command. It’s hard to decide which one was worse. The Vulcans didn’t say much but looked at me with that condemning glare of theirs that suggested this whole fiasco must somehow be my fault alone, while Admiral Forrest instructed me to speak with Trip’s family. I’m trying to put it off as long as possible for I’m sure we’ll find them soon. I hope we’ll find them---_

“Computer, erase the last two sentences and continue recording.”

_I have decided to wait another few days with that but, eventually, I know I’ll have to do it. Also, I will need to speak with A.G. and I’m dreading that---_

“Computer: erase the last sentence. Damn it!”

Ever since breaking the law together by conducting an unauthorized flight with the NX-Beta to prove to Starfleet and the Vulcans that the engine was working fine, the three of them had been inseparable best friends. It had never mattered anymore that Robinson and Archer had been rivals and had nearly killed each other in a fight just days before that and it also hadn’t mattered that Trip was so much younger than them and back then ‘only’ a member of Captain Jefferies' engineering team with the rank of lieutenant while the two of them had already been commanders and pilots in Starfleet.

Upon being chosen for captain of the Enterprise, he’d immediately known Trip would be his chief engineer and right-hand man, and while A.G. had been happy for them both, he’d pulled Jonathan aside one day before their mission began and said very darkly: ‘If something happens to that boy, you’ll have me to deal with.’ Archer didn’t have a doubt the other man had meant every word of his threat as well. They had both become somewhat protective of the young engineer after the ‘incident’ with the crime they’d committed and had sworn to protect him from every eventual repercussion – and everything else, apparently, as well.

He couldn’t imagine telling A.G. he had lost Trip…

“Computer, continue recording.”

_I have full faith in the crew and also in my missing people. I know T’Pol and Trip will keep each other as safe as possible and will do everything in their power to contact us. In the meantime, we’ll continue looking and hope for the best._

“Computer, stop recording. Come on, boy, let’s get you something to eat. How does cheese sound?”


	5. Chapter 5.

**Chapter 5.**

Three days. That’s how long they’d been in that cursed place and T’Pol knew they _needed_ to get out of here as soon as possible. If they didn’t---

A faint moan from the makeshift bed roused her from her thoughts and she hurried over to the small heap of misery that was her slowly waking colleague.

“It’s all right.” – She said, trying to sound reassuring. The last session of ‘tests’ had been hard on the young man and he’d been out of it for two hours afterward. – “Come on, Tucker, wake up. You need to drink this.”

They didn’t exactly have water but the fluid she’d managed to obtain from the Uka'thos after some begging was serving its purpose nicely. Agonizingly slowly, Trip pried his eyes open and looked up at her tiredly.

“Why are you doing this?” – His voice was raspy and it was painful to speak.

“I’m not doing anything.”

“You’re helping me.” – Trip stated with a small cough. – “You stayed to help. Not to admire them. Didn’t you? You’re helping…”

She shook her head.

“You’re delirious, commander.”

He managed a weak smile with some difficulty.

“I don’t think I am.” – He thought for a moment. – “Okay, I might be, unless those colorful butterflies circling your head are real... But not about _that_.”

“Would you just drink this?”

“Yes, mom.”

He sipped the substance slowly and eyed the room in the meantime. It was smaller than the one they’d been in before and this time, the aliens had made sure to let them know there wasn’t a weak spot in the walls. It didn’t matter anymore, really, since this time, Trip was the weak one. There was no way he could go anywhere, even if all the doors were wide open and the building were completely void of any enemy.

“How are you feeling?”

“Just peachy.” – He laid back on the dirty blanket and closed his eyes, draping his left arm over his face.

T’Pol regarded him worriedly.

“What did they do this time?”

He sighed and as he answered, his voice was muffled under the arm still in front of his mouth.

“There were some needles… Some kind of drug… Questions. Mathematical equations, mostly. Did you know I’m good at Math?”

“I was sure you were.”

“Then I had to recite poetry. Some stupid thing they read out loud and I had to repeat. They also tested my rusty Spanish. Anyway, apparently, my brain works pretty quickly and they want to find out how.”

“I don’t understand why they’re doing this. There was nothing about that behavior in the Vulcan database.” – She sounded as if she considered it a personal insult that the beloved database had failed her this time.

Trip peeked out from under his arm.

“Maybe Vulcans don’t know everything?”

She looked away.

“Maybe.”

“Sorry… I’m being a jerk.” – Trip made an effort to sit but fell back immediately. Next, he tried it slower and more carefully and succeeded at leaning against the wall. – “Here you are, having chosen to stay with me when you could have gone home and I’m insulting you… I’m sorry. Really. I am.”

“It’s fine, commander.”

“No, it’s not. Listen… I don’t hate you.” – The disbelief in her eyes spoke volumes and it made Trip cringe in shame. – “I really don’t hate you. I thought I would. Heck, a _wanted_ to hate you.”

“Why?”

“I grew up detesting Vulcans… As a kid, I heard all the stories about how these ‘pointy eared people with the weird eyebrows and out-of-date haircuts’ came from nowhere and now they’re here, ruling us… Assuming to know everything better, treating humans like rowdy children and flaunting their superiority.”

“Is that how we appear to humans?” – She asked, feeling scandalized. – “This was never our intention.”

“Then why does the Vulcan High Command always need to have the last word? Why all the secrecy and decisions over Starfleet’s head?”

“I admit it might be… a bit too much. We have gone to Earth to help but maybe we’ve overdone it in the past years.” – She ignored Trip’s ‘duh’ expression and went on. – “When we arrived, humans welcomed us, they were happy to discover extraterrestrial life. Before you, there were other species we’d wanted to help but they didn’t accept it. We never forced it. We don’t force anything.” – Now Trip glared at her pointedly. – “Well. We didn’t use to. We’ve gone too far on Earth; I can see that now.”

“And you’ve done it with arrogance.” – He added. – “Alone the way those Vulcans looked at us when we were testing the engine… Not to mention the comments. It was humiliating and infuriating! And Jon’s dad never saw his engine fly because of the Vulcans. _We_ don’t have 200 years to live, you know.”

“I’m sorry.”

He raised his arm and put it on her shoulder, happy to see she didn’t pull away just looked at him questioningly.

“No, you don’t have to be. It wasn’t _you_. I shouldn’t judge you like that. I behave like a racist… And I’d never been like that. I don’t want to be.”

“It’s understandable. The way you were… what was that expression again? Oh, yes: _sidelined_. I believe I wouldn’t be happy about that either if I were you.”

“I’m not saying I’m happy about it. I’m pissed. But I don’t really think it was your fault.”

“Thank you.”

“So…” – He said slowly, ready to change the uncomfortable subject. – “What kind of royal feast do you think we’ll get today? Will it be that viscous green gel we had yesterday or the yellow sticky jelly they gave us before?”

She actually rolled her eyes at that; a very human display of indignance in Trip’s eyes. He was definitely having a bad influence on her.

“Does it matter? They’re both equally disgusting.”

“True.”

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

Trip was half-lying-half-sitting on an examination table meant for creatures nearly twice his size with much longer limbs and had needles sticking out of his arm that were also just a tad bit too wide for his veins. The drugs being pumped into his system were doing their job: keeping him awake no matter what. There were several funny-looking electrodes fastened to his head that recorded all his brain activity while he was solving problem after problem provided for him by his ruthless captors.

“All right. If you could just take a look at that monitor...” – Today’s main torturer said with his habitual polite tone, directing the chief engineer’s attention to the screen. – “… and memorize the patterns.”

Images of different shapes and colors started appearing with increasing speed. In the end, it all just looked like a blur.

“Stop it!” – Trip croaked.

“All right. Now I’m going to show you all the shapes that have appeared on the screen and I want you to put them into the correct order please.”

Trip was handed some kind of remote control he already knew from previous days’ activities and – for lack of any other idea – obediently started pressing the buttons to select the correct images.

The Uka'thos were watching his progress and monitoring his brain’s waves at the same time. They looked extremely delighted with his result.

“Incredible!” – One of the assistants said. – “He doesn’t even have to make an effort. The poem worked his brain much harder than that.”

For a fleeting second, Trip thought about reminding them that he was an engineer – of course poems would be more difficult for him than remembering patterns and solving math problems. That was his daily job! But in the end he decided against it. What was the point? They would continue to torture him no matter what.

“Now, I’m going to show you two pictures. There are ten very subtle differences. I would like you to name them. But we’ll make this task a bit more difficult for you: you will only be allowed to look at each picture once for thirty seconds. You won’t be able to compare them, you can only use your memory. Are you up for it?”

That was, naturally, a rhetorical question and the first image was pushed into Trip’s face right afterwards.

But it wasn’t only the task that was making Trip’s admittedly brilliant brain work right now. Mostly, it was the new plan that had started to take shape in his head… So, while he was dutifully counting off the ten differences between two ridiculous pictures of some funny flurry animals a bit similar to kittens, he was thinking to himself: ‘Just give me all the test you want done because soon, you won’t have the opportunity to do them anymore. Tomorrow, we’re going home.’

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

On the fourth day of Enterprise missing her two crucial crewmembers, Captain Archer had finally gathered enough courage to call his friend A.G. Robison to tell him the sad news. Now, after having the man sit silently in front of the screen and glare daggers at him across thousands of lightyears, he wasn’t so sure anymore if it had been a good idea.

“Please… A.G… I---”

_“Tell me again: how the hell did that happen?”_ – His friend was clearly very upset and ready to murder someone; preferably Jon, judging by the murderous glint in the man’s eyes.

The captain took a deep breath and ran a hand though his hair that was considerably messier now than normally.

“I don’t know! They just… vanished.”

“ _Just vanished.”_ – A.G. repeated slowly and with a threatening undertone. – _“Vanished.”_

“Yes! They were transported off the ship.”

_“To where?”_

“No idea, I told you that already!” – Jon was getting frustrated. Did his friend really think it was all his fault? – “We’re doing all we can!” – He defended himself.

_“It doesn’t seem to be enough, does it!?_

Jon felt as if he had been punched in the gut. Suddenly, he was sure the air had been sucked out of the tiny ready room and he would suffocate. Never in a million years would he have imagined his friend would really actively blame him. Did the man honestly think he would let Trip willingly down!?

“You can’t mean that…”

_“You promised me nothing would happen to either of you and now he might be… Damn it, Jon, DO SOMETHING!”_ – It seemed like the worst thing for A.G. was to be so far away from Enterprise, where he couldn’t participate in the search and could only sit at home on Earth and hope for the best. Jon knew it must be horrible for the other man who was just like him: they always needed to act, to try to help… Both hated to rely on someone else to do the rescuing. 

“I’m on it!” – He said, trying to reassure his friend. – “Listen, we have a trail. It’s probably the ship that took them. We’re following it now.”

_“Do you think they’re still on the ship? Traveling at warp-who-knows-what to God knows where?”_

His friend sounded desperate and Jon could understand it all too well. If put that way, their chances really didn’t appear to be very good.

“We actually think they’re on a planet now.”

_“Do you know which?”_

“No… Not yet. Like I said: we’re working on it.” – His friend seemed so lost now that all of Jon’s anger dissipated at once. At least he’d had four days to come to term with what had happened and he also had the possibility of doing something, whereas A.G. had only just gotten the news, was still in shock and stuck on Earth, without being able to help. He desperately tried to think of something encouraging to say. – “Hey, you do know he’s able to look out for himself, right? I mean, he’s like a cat with all the extra lives and everything…”

_“I know, but… still… even cats run out of lives one day…”_

“He’s not alone.” – Jon tried.

Robinson hit the table, causing the computer screen to swing precariously, making Archer feel dizzy having to watch his friend’s image dance like that.

_“He’s with a Vulcan. That’s worse than being alone!”_

“T’Pol’s not that bad.” – Jon defended with as much conviction as he could muster. – “She’s one of us now. Even if she’s a Vulcan I know they’ll be there for each other.”

This proved to be the wrong thing to say.

_“One of you? Do you hear yourself?_ _She’s a Vulcan!_ _Don’t you remember what they’re like? Or maybe you’d like me to remind you why your father had to die without seeing his life’s work finally working?”_

Archer closed his eyes, took a deep breath and counted to ten. Now was not the time to have an argument about what Vulcans had done to them in the past.

“It doesn’t matter now, A.G. What matters is that I find Trip. I promise you, I’ll find him, even if it’s the last thing I’ll ever do.”

And he meant it. He was going to find their best friend.


	6. Chapter 6.

“I don’t think we are going to manage that, commander. The Uka'thos know everything we do, everything we talk about and everything we plan.”

“That’s Santa Claus.”

“Who?”

“Big, old guy in red coat with long white beard who comes through the chimney and eats all the cookies in the house?”

“You mean a thief?”

“Arrgh! Listen!” – Trip had just finished explaining his brilliant plan, and quite honestly, he had expected T’Pol to be somewhat more excited about it. Instead, she was trying to convince him it was too dangerous and they should wait for Enterprise to find them without doing anything at all. That was silly and the chief engineer was getting increasingly annoyed with her. Again. He sighed. – “I told you already: Enterprise won’t find us without our help. We need to contact them so they can track our signal. So, that’s what we’re gonna do.”

“But how do you want to do that?”

Trip had to keep himself from screaming in frustration, especially because his head was hurting again from his latest session with the ‘praying mantises’ and he was finding it very hard to deal patiently with her constantly doubting everything he said.

“I just told you!”

“I will word it differently then: how do you want to achieve it without being caught and possibly punished?” – She clarified. – “Don’t you think they’re torturing you enough already?” – She added somewhat worriedly, referring to his exhausted state.

“I’m fine!” – Trip insisted. – “I just want to go home. I assume you as well? I mean, you’re not still excited to meet these… monsters, are you?”

“Of course I’m not!” – She said immediately, sounding somewhat defensive. For being a Vulcan, she had displayed quite a wide palette of emotions in the past few days. – “Clearly, they’re not as sophisticated as we thought.”

“You’re only saying that because they find _me_ the most intelligent and not you.”

“That’s certainly part of it.”

They glared at each other for a while, during which Trip was fighting the urge to put his limited Spanish to good use by cussing furiously and thought that T’Pol indeed looked somewhat bitter to be confined to their cell the entire time with only two rapid bathroom breaks a day while it was the ‘stupid’ human who got all the attention. Albeit unwanted, he reminded himself as he massages his sore temple.

“Well, I, for one, don’t want to stay here any longer, so I think I’d rather take my chances with the plan. If you don’t mind of course.” – His voice suggested he didn’t really care whether she minded or not.

T’Pol apparently got the message because, after just a few seconds of hesitation, she nodded. Good girl.

“Fine. I’ll help with whatever I can. Just don’t blame me if things go south.”

She’d said ‘if’ and not ‘when’. A small progress in Trip’s opinion.

“Great. So, that’s how we’ll do it…”

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

The next time Trip was ushered into the lab, he was actually eager to get there. For now, he knew this would be the last time he had to hop over the too high threshold in this direction since they’d get back to Enterprise soon enough.

So he even smiled at the alien that placed the electrodes on his head and hummed to himself while he was hooked up to various monitors, probably worrying the giant creature a bit with his behavior but he couldn’t care less.

“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” – He asked cheekily just when the needle was inserted into his already abused vein.

The Uka'tho looked startled but recovered quickly.

“We are very glad to see you so happy.” – It said. – “Are you ready for today’s tests?” – They asked that every day but they never expected an answer.

This time, they got one anyway.

“Oh, yes. I can’t wait!” – Two creatures exchanged glances and Trip continued. – “Do you maybe have more of those math equations? You know, those with the hexadecimal number system. I like converting that into the octal one…”

“We were thinking of studying your Physics knowledge today.”

“Wonderful!” – cheered the chief engineer. – “My favorite subject at school. Have you heard of the supersymmetry? According to it, every particle has a so-called ‘superpartner’.” – He pretended to think hard. – “Hmm… I wonder if _I_ have a superpartner… What do you think?” – He hadn’t thought it was possible for these aliens to look stunned but that was the case right now. – “Maybe it could be T’Pol… Do you think a Vulcan could be the superparner of a human? No, I don’t think so either, our ears aren’t compatible…” – One of the Uka'thos was furiously checking the IV bag, probably trying to determine if they had used the wrong drug. – “Have you seen her ears? They are this…” – He used his hands to indicate it. – “… pointy. Weird, isn’t it? You know what’s even weirder? That you don’t have ears at all. How can you hear then? But, well, I suppose, turtles don’t have ears either… Do turtles hear? I’ve always wondered…”

“Are you feeling all right?” – One of them asked, studying the monitors.

“Excellent, thank you for asking!” – Trip beamed. – “You know, it’s great to have found company that admires my intelligence. Really, I mean it. T’Pol thinks I’m stupid. She’s always thought that. She doesn’t say so but I know. Because I’m not. Stupid, I mean. I’m not stupid.” – It was evident the Uka'thos were starting to disagree with that statement. They injected him with something new and Trip could feel himself drifting. But, by sheer will, he stayed awake. Unbeknown to the aliens, he had used their confusion to seize the remote control he’d had been able to study for days and had hidden it behind his back. He’d need it later. Now if he could just concentrate and stay coherent long enough to do this… - “It’s good to know there are still smart species in the Universe. I was starting to doubt. I mean, knowing Vulcans…”

The translator was off now and the aliens were conversing among each other in their own, unintelligible language that sounded a bit like machines clicking and humming. For the hundredth time Trip wished for Hoshi’s talent to discern foreign words because now he could only guess what the conversation was about. The next moment, four of them disappeared, leaving the chief engineer with only one torturer.

“It’s all right, you should rest.” – The concerned-looking giant said in English again. Apparently, he was allowed to understand them for now.

Trip just smiled, not having any intention to close his eyes, despite the drugs wanting to force him to do just that. He had to hold on and stick to the plan.

A few minutes later T’Pol was unceremoniously escorted into the lab and all but dumped on the bed with to him (standing next to him wasn’t an option, given that the bed was too high for them).

“Find out what’s wrong with him!” – The leader instructed, his forced politeness entirely gone for the first time since they’d arrived.

“Why, what is he doing?” – T’Pol inquired innocently, sitting cross-legged on the bed and pretending to study Trip like an interesting new specimen, even poking him occasionally.

“He’s blabbering incessantly!”

The Vulcan contemplated her colleague as if trying to judge his state of mind.

“There’s nothing unusual about that.” – She stated. – “He’s been doing it ever since I met him.”

“Why, T’Pol, I thought you liked me!” – Trip said with faked resentment and even added a pout for good measure.

“How could you think that? I’m always telling you to shut up. And to think they believe you to be smart…”

“I assumed you were joking!”

“Well, I was not! Vulcans don’t joke, commander. I really do want you to shut up.”

“Maybe _you_ should shut up.”

“BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP!” – T’Pol and Trip found themselves gaping at the Uka'tho after the unexpected outburst. Up until now, all of them had always been incredibly polite – even too much so. It seemed like the others were as surprised at their friend’s behavior as the Enterprise crew members were. He/she looked around sheepishly. – “I apologize. But please, try to solve this without arguing. We don’t like quarrels, it makes us nervous.” – That was a big understatement, as they all looked ready to bolt.

“Do you know what he did once?” – T’Pol continued, turning towards the leader, ignoring the others. – “He went and got himself pregnant. That was the first time he stepped onto an alien ship, he only spent three days there and that was enough for him to get knocked up. That’s him.”

Now Trip didn’t have to pretend to be indignant.

“Hey, that’s not fair! A guy gets into trouble once and you can’t stop harping on it!”

“That wasn’t just a small ‘trouble’, commander, that was a _pregnancy_!”

“It wasn’t even my fault, I was a perfect gentleman!”

“I guess it depends on your definition of gentleman.”

One of the Uka'thos held up its long arms to halt their fight.

“All right, that is enough. You…” – It pointed at T’Pol. – “… have thirty minutes to make him cooperative again. I don’t care how, just you do it.”

They carefully gathered any equipment they thought could be used against them but forgot about the remote control Trip was still hiding behind his back. After taking everything they wanted removed from the lab, all of them quickly disappeared, leaving the two hostages alone.

“I’ll give it to you, Tucker: you sure know how to annoy people regardless of their species.” – The Vulcan said with something akin to admiration in her voice. – “That must be some unique talent.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” – Trip pulled the device out from under him and contemplated it with interest. – Now if I can just modify this a bit…”

“Wait a moment… ‘ _if_!? I thought you said you were sure you could do it! Tucker, we only have thirty minutes!”

“Keep your panties on, sub-commander. I’ve got it.”

He ignored the glare the Vulcan gave him and started working on the remote control, taking it apart using the needle he’d pulled out from his arm, ignoring both the blood running down his hand from where it had punctured his skin and the drug in his system trying to knock him out. He was tinkering – he was in his element. Nothing was going to stop him now.

T'Pol, feeling quite useless as she watched her colleague work, had taken to hand Trip all the medical equipment she thought he could use to substitute tools. But when a few minutes later they had hopped off the bed and he was typing around on the computer, making it capable of communication, she found she was more than capable to help with that. She knew computers and this one wasn’t different enough from Vulcan technology for her to have problems with.

“It’s been ten minutes already.” – T’Pol warned, chancing a look at the clock on the wall. Of course, it was showing Uka'tho time but she had become quite adapt at translating it by now. – “Do you think it will work?”

“I’m _sure_ it will work… any moment now… Luckily this thing already had an intergalactical connection, presumably so that they could share data with other medieval torturers like them… now it should work… Sending the message to Enterprise now.”

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

The remaining senior staff had been working triple shifts to try to find their missing friends and it was clear that, by now, people were exhausted to the core. It was starting to effect their performance as well, however they were trying to keep going.

Hoshi was nearly falling asleep at her station with her head lolling to the side every few minutes or so before pulling herself up again when suddenly, there was an insistent beeping right next to her that jerked her wide awake instantly. Taking a closer look, she found it was a signal coming from an unknown source.

“Captain? There’s a message.”

Jonathan jumped up from his chair where he’d been slumped half-asleep before as if he’d been electrocuted and ran to his Communications Officer.

“From whom?”

“I don’t know, sir.”

Reed looked up from his dozing somewhat worriedly.

“What if it’s a trap? We open it and… I don’t know… somebody takes over the control of Enterprise.” – He asked, waiting for the captain to make his decision.

Archer weighed his options.

“The Vulcans are here; whatever happens, they’ll help us.” – He didn’t really know if it was true since they weren’t exactly the best friends but he suspected the Vulcan High Command had sent the ship over to assist them, not to watch them go down… Well, hopefully, anyway. - “It could be important. Hoshi, open the message.”

“Yes, sir.” – She pressed a few buttons then read the writing. Then read it again. And again. Her eyes widened and she gasped.

“Hoshi…?”

“Captain… It’s… It’s… It’s from T’Pol and Trip! They’re alive!”

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

“Do you think it worked?”

“I believe so…” – Trip eyed the funny-looking computer critically. He knew he had sent the message but there was no way to tell if it had arrived to the recipient.

“They’ll be back soon, climb back into bed.” – T’Pol instructed and helped him heave himself up to the examination table. – “Close your eyes and pretend to sleep. Don’t open them for any reason!”

Trip rolled his eyes in annoyance.

“I know the plan, T’Pol. I came up with it.”

“That may be true, commander, but you seem a bit out of it.”

“Must be the drugs…”

“Are you all right?” – If Trip didn’t know any better, he would think she was worried for him.

“Fine.” – He said simply. His head was pounding badly now and, truthfully, he was feeling awful. He wouldn’t tell her that though.

T’Pol listened for a second intently, before she pushed him back to lie down.

“They’re coming.” – The sub-commander announced, putting her superior hearing to good use once again.

And indeed, just about half a minute later the door opened and all of the aliens walked in together, looking at her expectantly.

“Is he up to the tests now?” – One of them asked.

“I’m sorry.” – The Vulcan said, trying to sound sincere. – “I’ve tried everything but he passed out. I can’t wake him.”

“What!? But what’s wrong with him?”

Trip had to concentrate on feigning sleep instead of laughing out loud. Were these people really that dumb!? Extra intelligent, yeah, of course…

“”I believe all the tests and drugs haven’t done him any favors.” – T’Pol answered helpfully. – “Humans are very fragile, you know.” – She repeated the opinion she had expressed days ago.

“That’s ridiculous, we haven’t hurt a hair on his head.”

“Well, you have drugged him…”

“So? It’s just to keep him awake. He’s not awake now.”

One of the others piped in:

“We did give him a sedative just before…”

Another one asked with a resigned sigh:

“When will he wake?”

T’Pol pretended to think about the question for a while.

“I think… by tomorrow, he should be all right.”

“Tomorrow!? Oh, well. Let’s take them back to their cell then.”

They had T’Pol drag Trip all the way, not helping her at all. It took an agonizing ten minutes to reach the cell that had never looked so inviting before as it did now when they had finally reached it.

As soon as she was pushed inside, the Uka'thos left and carefully locked the door.

“Commander. Commander! They’re gone, you can stop pretending now and get off me already… Commander!” – But Trip was really asleep now and oblivious to everything going on around him. – “Are you kidding!? Tucker! Pfff… It’s a good thing Vulcans are strong…”

She carefully laid him down on the blankets and sat next to him to catch her breath.

The plan had worked: they had sent the message and given Enterprise the means to trace it. They had also warned them about the Uka'thos. Now they couldn’t do more than hope the message had arrived all right and their friends would soon come to rescue them…


	7. Chapter 7.

**Chapter 7.**

“A.G.! We’ve found them!” – Shouted Archer happily as soon as his friend answered his call on the very first ring. Clearly, he’d been impatiently waiting for news.

_“What? Is he all right? Where is he? Can I talk to him?”_ – The man was trying to see behind the captain as if expecting Trip to materialize there any second.

“He’s not here, we haven’t retrieved them yet. They just made contact and now we know where they are and that they’re all right.”

_“And where are they?”_

“Very close! Turns out Hoshi was right; we have been following their trails.”

_“Great! And why haven’t you picked them up yet?”_ – His friend’s tone suggested he found the delay atrocious.

Jon took a deep breath.

“We still need twenty minutes to get there. And they also warned us about some species called ‘Uka'tho’ or something like that. Have you heard of them?”

_“No. But who cares? Just go get the boy!”_

“I will. I promise. Lieutenant Reed is preparing an away team as we speak and Hoshi is talking to the Vulcan ship; coordinating the mission and trying to find out everything they know about these people. They are already in orbit of the planet and observing the scenery in hopes of finding the quickest

and safest way in and out.”

_“I swear to you, Jon, if they hurt him, I’ll go out there and gut them myself!”_

“Well, my friend, you’ll hate to take a number… Even the Vulcans seem angry and that’s certainly something I’ve never seen before – well, except for T’Pol when it comes to Trip...” – He shrugged. – “But she’d deny it anyway.”

A.G. just rolled his eyes, not particularly interested in the Vulcan, his concern was merely for their friend.

_“Call me as soon as you have him. Or better: have him call me. You know what: the both of you call.”_

“Will do. Don’t worry.”

_“You know I always worry.”_

There was definitely no denying that. Archer nodded in acknowledgement and ended the call feeling optimistic for the first time since the mysterious disappearance of his crew members several days ago.

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

Trip didn’t wake when Enterprise and the Vulcans infiltrated the building only half an hour later; thanks to Hoshi’s previous discovery and their following the trail they’d been very close already. He didn’t wake when T’Pol kicked and hit the door to get their rescuers’ attention and he didn’t wake when – after a twenty-minutes long battle with the unarmed and very surprised Uka'thos – a relieved Malcolm managed to enter the cell with Captain Archer in tow. He was even brought back to Enterprise while still asleep and woke only while Phlox was examining him to make sure he wouldn’t suffer any lasting effects from everything he’d been put though.

At the very moment Phlox had inserted a needle to draw blood, he opened his eyes and looked around groggily.

“Whatsyadoin’?” – He muttered, still half asleep.

“Ah, commander! It’s good to see you awake!” – The Denobulan doctor awarded him with his enormous smile. – “How are you feeling?”

“Hate needles…”

The captain, stepping closer, put a hand on the young man’s shoulder, partly to calm him and partly to keep the wobbly young man steady.

“We know, Trip. We can see the evidence on your arm... but it’s necessary, okay? Just hold still for a moment.”

“Don’t wanna…” – But he was too weak to fight so, reluctantly, he let the doctor do his job with just a small amount of pouting. It was actually quite adorable; not that they would ever tell him that.

“T’Pol told us what happened.” – Jon offered. – “You were both very brave.” – He was actually incredibly proud of how his people had handled themselves and planned on telling Starfleet all about their heroics. Actually, even the Vulcans that had come to their aid had seemed somewhat impressed and that was certainly a big achievement.

Hearing about their Vulcan colleague woke the chief engineer somewhat from his dazed state.

“How is she? Is she all right?” – Trip tried to look around but she was nowhere in sight.

“Easy. She’s fine. She gave me her report and got a clean bill of health from Phlox. I’ve sent her to her quarters; she needed to rest as well.”

“Oh… Okay…” – Trip leaned back for a moment, then sat up again. – “But she’s really all right, isn’t she?”

The captain laughed and exchanged amused glances with the doctor.

“What’s the sudden interest? She was as badly worried about you as you are about her. I thought you two hated each other?” – He asked teasingly.

“We do! We despise each other, cap’n.” – Trip insisted though even he knew he wasn’t very convincing. – “It’s just that she stayed there with me when she could have come back and I don’t want to be responsible for her injuries…”

“Aha…”

Phlox smiled wildly again.

“She’s absolutely all right, commander, do not worry.”

“Okay. I don’t worry for her. Why would I worry? I just don’t want to be---”

“Responsible. We know, Trip.” – Archer patted his head, giving the impression of consoling a very sleepy, whiny child.

The chief engineer sighed: why did it feel like the captain and the doctor were making fun of him!?

**STAR TREK ENTERPRISE * STAR TREK ENTERPRISE ***

It seemed like the entire crew had been worried sick about them, so in the last two days since they’d been back, T’Pol and Trip had been finding themselves in the center of attention many times. While it was good to know the others cared, neither felt very happy about being treated like they were out of glass, ready to break any moment if not treated carefully enough.

“Commander, come on. Sit down. I’ll bring you your food.” – Malcolm all but pushed Trip onto the nearest chair as soon as he’d entered the mess hall, as if afraid the chief engineer would collapse dead if he didn’t take a seat right away. – “What would you like to eat? I’ll see if they have catfish… I’m sure chef has made you some. I told him to make it for you. I’m checking right now.”

Trip tried to protest and tell his friend that he was perfectly capable to select his own dinner but he didn’t get the chance; Malcolm was already at the counter, filling plate after plate. The young man just hoped he wasn’t expected to eat all of the food the security chief had collected because he was sure he wouldn’t survive it. After days of eating very little and incredibly disgusting things, he now found he couldn’t tolerate as much solid food as before.

“Thanks, Mal…” – He said, trying to keep the panic out of his voice as the three plates were placed onto the table. – “Ahm… That’s plenty.”

“You need to eat. You’ve lost a lot of weight.”

That was true. Both him and T’Pol were considerably thinner than before their ordeal. But that still didn’t mean he could compensate in just one mealtime…

And it wasn’t just Malcolm who was behaving peculiar: all his people in Engineering had been insisting he relax and rest while they did all the work for him. According to them, he should just give instructions and let them run up and down the ladders. Also, he had tried to pick up a box of about 15 kilograms just the day before and nearly got a heart attack when three of his subordinates cried out at the same time for him to ‘leave it!’ and two others rushed to take it from him immediately. His second-in-command had regularly scolded him for a quarter of an hour afterwards and he had found himself blinking sheepishly at her, feeling and probably also looking like a naughty schoolboy caught trying to ditch class.

Not to mention A.G. who had spent exactly seventy-three minutes and fifteen seconds lecturing him about the proper way to take care of himself and had even thrown in some well-meant suggestions on how to avoid being captured and tortured the next time. It involved a lot of staying put safely on the ship and letting others – preferably ‘the Vulcan’ – take all the risks. The call had ended with the threat of a slow and painful death should he scare ‘his much too old for this kind of worry’ friend like that again.

After Hoshi had joined Malcolm in trying to force-feed him with three times as much food as a normal person could take, he decided he’d had enough and sought out the only person who was probably feeling just as frustrated as him: T’Pol. They hadn’t talked since they’d been brought back to Enterprise two days ago and he supposed it ought to stay that way for both of their sakes, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Right?

“Enter.” – Came the command after he’d knocked on her door.

He cautiously stepped into the dimly lit room, making sure nobody saw him. T’Pol was sitting crossed-legged on the floor with candles all around her.

“Sorry to interrupt your meditation…”

“It’s all right. Can I help you?”

“Yes!” – Trip replied vehemently. – “You can help me make the crew stop taking care of us! Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how extra helpful they are!” – He was waving his arms and walking up and down, clearly agitated. – “They don’t let me decide what or when to eat. Or how much. They don’t let me do my work. Yesterday, they didn’t even let me watch the movie, saying I needed to _sleep_ instead!”

“I thought you liked the attention, commander.” – At Trip’s glare, she sighed. – “But I do understand your anger. Yesterday, Ensign Sato came to my quarters to make sure I was still alive; she claimed I’d been ‘cooped up’ too much. I hadn’t even been familiar with that expression. And Ensign Mayweather has offered me his assistance ‘whenever I need it and whatever I need it with’.”

“That’s ridiculous; you’d think we were tortured in Hell, or something…”

“ _You_ were tortured.” – T’Pol reminded him but Trip just waved away the statement.

“Any ideas?” – He asked instead. – “Come on, sub-commander! I’m losing my mind here.”

“I wouldn’t have thought you had anything to lose...” – Trip snorted at that but motioned for the to continue. –“Have you tried talking to them?” – The commander gave her another glare. – “Right. Me, too. Then… You know, maybe if they thought we help each other then they’d feel better about letting us cope on our own.”

“You mean… ahm… What do you mean?” – Trip wasn’t sure he had heard right. Had T’Pol really just said what he thought she had…? – “You say we should pretend to _care_ for each other?”

She looked relieved that he’d caught on so quickly.

“Exactly.”

“But… you hate me. And I annoy you. We can’t stand each other…”

“Commander, it’s only logical to assume our crewmates would leave us alone if they saw that we, who were both kidnapped and have gone through the same ordeal, are there to support each other. And we want them to leave us alone, right?”

“Right.” – Trip said slowly, feeling somewhat suspicious.

“So, I just drew the logical conclusion.” – She finished, seemingly quite pleased with herself and her famous logic.

“All right, so how do you propose we do this? Should we… dunno… spend more time together? Eat together? Work together?”

“I believe that would be reasonable.”

Trip’s eyes lit up.

“Go to movie night together?” – He chanced. The Vulcan grimaced. – You’ll like it. Hey, you know what!? I’m going to show you my all-time favorite: the James Bond movies! All of them are great but Skyfall is the best and…”

As Trip went on and on about the merits of the British MI6 agent, both knew something had irreversibly changed – and definitely for the best. It seemed like this was the beginning of a very strange friendship between a Vulcan and a Human.

**Fin**


End file.
